Oliver Wirth caught a touchdown pass.
The Firebirds, despite falling behind in the second quarter, had recaptured some momentum. Passes to Wirth, Kade Fee and Will Heilman, along with a pass interference call, helped them get to the 10-yard line.
And quarterback Mason Palmer, in his return from an arm fracture, finished the job with a 10-yard pass to Wirth in the end zone on third down.
But with Minot North’s lead trimmed to 14-7, Devils Lake made a detrimental mistake. With mere seconds left in the first half, the Sentinels’ Carter Coleman slipped through the defense and returned the kickoff roughly 80 yards for a touchdown.
Minot North (8-2, 4-1) never looked back, ending Devils Lake’s (5-5, 2-3) season with a 35-20 defeat in the first round of the playoffs at Sentinel Stadium on Friday.
Devils Lake struggled to get much going in the run game. Palmer made another touchdown pass to Weston Nelson, then later ran for a five-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. But the Sentinels’ 21 points in the second quarter were too much to fight back from.
It was quiet in the first quarter, with no score for either side. Fee and Brody Forsberg had big tackles on Minot’s first possession. But Devils Lake went three and out on each of its first two drives.
The Firebirds eventually got a first down on a 12-yard pass to Nelson. A 13-yard play from Bryar Exner brought them to the 29-yard line, but a 10-yard penalty eventually forced them to punt on fourth and long to begin the second quarter.
A 22-yard pass then got the Sentinels started on what turned out to be a 73-yard touchdown drive. Another big tackle by Forsberg forced a third-and-12 situation, but Minot started to execute rapid and efficient running plays. Plays of 15 and 13 yards got the ball all the way to Devils Lake’s 18.
The sequence ended on a touchdown run by Evan Berg. The Sentinels took a 6-0 lead, as their two-point conversion attempt was unsuccessful.
Devils Lake, immediately facing a fourth down on its next possession, got bailed out by a Minot false start. But on third and 11, Palmer was intercepted.
It led to Minot’s second touchdown, fueled by a 30-yard run across midfield. Brayden Blikre converted on third and inches for a quarterback keeper run into the end zone. Minot found a way to cut through a host of Firebird defenders on the two-point conversion attempt, making it 14-0 with less than four minutes left in the first half.
Then came Devils Lake’s first score, with the pass to Wirth completing a 65-yard drive. With only 32 seconds on the clock, the Firebirds looked all set to go to halftime down by only a touchdown.
But Coleman’s 80-yard kickoff return made it an again-commanding 21-7 lead.
Exner picked up a first down in the opening minutes of the second half, following up a three-and-out forced by the Devils Lake defense. But he couldn’t gain any ground on the resulting three plays.
Minot responded with a 77-yard touchdown drive on a series of marginal runs. It culminated in a 17-yard carry into the end zone to make it 28-7.
Devils Lake struck back with a key touchdown at the end of the third quarter. Palmer unleashed a 46-yard pass to Coby Dronen Levitt, then gained 10 more on a pass to Heilman. After another five-yard pass to Dronen Levitt, Nelson made a 14-yard touchdown reception.
The Firebirds were still hanging on by a thread going into the fourth quarter, down 28-14.
On Minot’s next punt, the Devils Lake returner was nearly tackled in the end zone for a safety. Instead, he was down at the two-yard line. But the Firebirds went three and out, and to make matters worse, had a poor punt downfield. Minot took over at the Devils Lake 22-yard line.
It wasn’t long before the Sentinels nabbed an eight-yard touchdown run to make it a three-score game at 35-14.
Devils Lake wound up driving the ball 85 yards on its next possession to get its third touchdown. Wirth made catches of 12 and 17 yards, and multiple penalties helped keep the Firebirds rolling. Palmer eventually ran it in himself on a five-yard keeper.
The extra point was blocked, bringing the score to its eventual final of 35-20.
The Firebirds made serious noise to try to make it a one-possession game, with a 17-yard reception by Weston Stromme and a catch by Dronen Levitt that came with a personal foul. But on fourth and 10 from inside Minot’s 30-yard line, Palmer was intercepted, and the ball was brought back all the way to the opposite end of the field.
That effectively ended the Firebirds’ comeback hopes, despite sneaking in for a couple of touchdowns to keep it relatively close. And so dawned the end of their 2024 season. Five wins was their most since 2017, and they made the playoffs for the first time since 2021. But the campaign officially came to a close Friday, on the very first day of November.
